Guy Molinari: His history was our history (commentary)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - It's impossible to overstate Guy V. Molinari's influence on Staten Island, the sweeping changes that he wrought, both to our politics and to our civic life.

Only now, with Molinari's death at the age of 89, does the true scope of his achievements become obvious.

Frankly, it's more than can be put into one obituary, or one commentary.

What was once the "forgotten borough" was able to find its voice because Molinari was our advocate, whether he was battling City Hall, LNG tanks or the two-way toll. He was our tireless fighter in the state Assembly, the U.S. House of Representatives and Borough Hall.

One thing, of course, stands out: It was Molinari who spear-headed the closure of the Fresh Kills landfill.

The dump had been an environmental blight on our community for half a century. A true symbol of the disdain that many people in other parts of the city felt for us. We were literally good for nothing better than being the city's dumping ground. It was a scar on our borough and on our collective psyches.

But Molinari threatened to sue the city over the dump, even though that meant going up against Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, an ally and friend whom Molinari helped put into office.

But it underlined what everybody in politics came to know: If Molinari thought it was the right thing to do, he didn't care much who was in the way, friend or foe. Sometimes it caused hard feelings. Other times, it got results. The dump was closed, and is now on its way to becoming a city park that will rival Central Park.

And it was Molinari who put Staten Island on the political map. When he started in politics in the 1970s, Staten Island was a Democratic town. Guy focused on registering voters, stirring up the grassroots, crafting a message to reach the borough's middle class homeowners. Before long, Republicans were winning seats here in greater numbers.

Without Molinari, there is no Giuliani, and all the positives that Giuliani brought to the city in the 1990s. There is no Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the attention he paid to Staten Island. Maybe Staten Island doesn't go for Donald Trump in 2016.

Pick a battle, and Guy was there. Those LNG tanks. Fighting a power plant planned for Travis. Working legislative magic to get the one-way toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge written into federal law. Battling Mayor Ed Koch on a proposed jail. Battling Mayor David Dinkins on just about everything.

And Molinari was a mentor, guiding generations of office holders and office seekers as they made their way through politics. His counsel was sought right up until the end. His declining health might have kept him out of public view, but he was still in the political game.

When he left Congress in 1990, he helped his daughter Susan win his seat. After that, he helped guide Vito Fossella to the House. And then Michael Grimm. Even now, a onetime Molinari protegee, Rep. Daniel Donovan, represents us in Congress.

Guy, working with James Molinaro and the late Michael Petrides, was the architect of how Republicans still do political business. Having a strong bench, putting staffers in place to one day succeed their bosses. Things may not be exactly the same as they were when Guy was at the helm, but the blueprint is still there.

And he was almost as famous for his political fights. He challenged Democratic City Councilman Jay O'Donovan to a boxing match. He went up against Giuliani. And Gov. George Pataki. A friend of President George H.W. Bush, Molinari later went against the Bush family and backed Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain over George W. Bush in the 2000 primary. When the rest of the borough GOP refused to go along, Guy broke with them.

It wasn't all perfect. There were controversies. Molinari's legacy took a hit after he left office and worked as a private consultant to bring an 80,000-seat NASCAR track to Bloomfield. There were protests, and the bid failed. Some wondered if Guy had lost the pulse of his beloved borough.

There were electoral losses later was well. Guy couldn't get his candidates to the promised land anymore. Grimm left the House for prison, tried unsuccessfully to get his House seat back this year, with Guy Molinari at his right hand.

It turned out to be Guy's last political fight. He was a battler to the end.